Woodland wandering

It's decades since I last went into the local wood. These days it's well trodden, less overgrown, but much the same. The sun broke through late in the day after snow and sleet. It was setting fast though. The wide angle was the right choice for the claustrophobic environment but once more I was thwarted by the lack of a tripod - which should be rectified later this week.

Walking back home with the light really fading I messed around with the flash values for some fill-in at the pavilion. I'm not not a fan of flash this seems to have worked reasonably well in highlighting the metallic surfaces. Although I prefer being in the countryside with it's natural forms and colours I find making photographs from the hard edges of the built environment much easier.

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Hampered by the light

The play of light on the sand dunes as I drove through them the other day got me thinking about pointing a camera at them. Only thing was when I got there the sun went into hiding. Given the uniformity of colour and tone of marram grass and sand in the soft light there wasn't much in the way of the contrast to give shape to things. Even the clouds failed to make themselves moody and magnificent.

Undeterred I battled manfully and think I managed to find something moderately worthwhile.


Of course, the moment I returned to the car the clouds moved on and the shadows returned - although I rather overcooked the use of the wide angle lens in my enthusiasm.

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If you think you're in close...

...get in closer.

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All about choices

Photography is essentially a medium of selection. You choose where to point the camera, how to frame the shot and then pick which of any alternatives you've made is 'the one'. There usually is only one.

One way of approaching this is to make as many selections as possible while in front of the subject and then pare them down later. The odd thing is that 'the one' is frequently the first, or last, exposure made. In the first instance it is a case of the picture you have envisaged has manifested itself, immediately and fully formed, through the subconscious. Subsequent attempts are searches for an improvement against the odds. In the latter case the picture hasn't been formed in the mind's eye and has to be worked at to be brought to a conclusion. Frequently this leads nowhere, or to a less than satisfying conclusion.

The ability to shoot an almost limitless number of options to a memory card is both a boon and a curse. It can ensure that the one good shot is made, but it can make finding it more difficult. Hiding the wood in the trees. Does it also make the lazy substitute shutter operations for seeing?

With the weather continuing chilly there is the benefit of clear skies and bright sunshine. Frost and ice brings with it the temptation to succumb to cliché. It's hard to resist because it the clichés are so appealing. So I gave in.


Trying to see something different I eliminated the obvious subject matter of the feathery seed heads and shot the stems of the phragmites. If there's an influence it's probably abstract expressionism. But maybe that's just me being pretentious.

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Down with nature reserves

This may turn out to be a rant. I visited a local nature reserve which I hadn't been back to since I was on Job Creation there some 24 years ago. Much was still the same, but it seemed far less wild and far more sanitised. The paths are now wheelchair friendly, which I suppose is a good thing but detracts from the feeling of being 'in' the natural world. There are fences round some parts of the place. Areas designated for particular wildlife. Despite the birds, and any unseen mammals, being free to come and go as they please it all felt a bit like a zoo.

There weren't many photos to be found. The light was quite appealing, but not really strong enough for hand held close-ups. I must get a tripod sorted out, even if it will hamper my modus operandi. It would make shots like this have a greater depth of focus though.


On my way there I'd stopped off a few hundred yards from home to photograph something I'd spotted earlier and ended up finding the two best shots of the day by chance. The photo I thought I was going to find wasn't there, nor (to any real satisfaction) were the ones I thought might be found out on the moss, the flat dark peaty-soiled area outside the village. One, of some maize left at the edge of a black tilled field, was particularly elusive. To get the composition I'd have needed a ladder. Far easier for a painter who can move things around at will without the restrictions a lens and viewfinder frame impose.

Out until dusk on the marsh where I chatted briefly about cameras and barbel with a birder hoping to capture a barn owl in pixels.

All that driving and walking and my favourite shot of the day came from a spot I can see from the back bedroom window!

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